BHUBANESWAR: Decision of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) to auction the telecast rights of the world famous Rath Yatra to the highest bidder TV channel has run into controversy with the move now challenged in the Orissa High Court.
The move has come in for strong opposition from a section of the servitors on the ground that Rath Yatra is a religious matter, not a sports event and auctioning it would lead to commercialisation.
This is not for the first time that a move to auction the telecast rights of the Rath Yatra has been initiated.
An attempt made by SJTA in this direction in 2010 was aborted in the preliminary stage due to protest from the servitors.
The temple administration’s decision to revive the matter nine years later is based on the logic that though television channels earn a good amount of revenue from companies through commercial advertisements during the Rath Yatra live telecast, they contribute nothing to the temple.
“Therefore, the administration decided to issue an expression of interest to know how much will be their contribution to the temple,” SJTA Chief Administrator PK Mohapatra told media persons at Puri.
Following the expression of interest, the SJTA received seven bids from different media houses which were reportedly opened on Monday. Sources said the highest bid offer was reportedly for Rs 54 lakh by a popular Odia TV channel followed by Rs 36 lakh, Rs15 lakh, Rs10 lakh, Rs10 lakh, Rs 4.44 lakh and Rs1.25 lakh by other media houses.
The bids cover live telecast of Lord Jagannath’s car festival beginning from Snan Purnima (bathing rituals) on June 17 till Niladri Bije (return to the temple by the deities after the festival) on July 14.
According to the terms and conditions announced by the SJTA, the telecast rights holder is bound to share the feed with national broadcaster Doordarshan free of charge.
The rights holder will have to strictly follow the laws/rules/regulations of the Government of India as well as the State Government for the live telecast.
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In case of any dispute, the decision of the Chief Administrator, SJTA will be final and binding.
However, public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate and president of Puri Sachetan Nagarika Mancha Prasanna Kumar Dash has sought immediate withdrawal of the auction notice.
The Chief Administrator, SJTA and Puri District Collector have been made parties in the PIL.
The PIL stated that in the previous years, every television channel was allowed to telecast live proceeding of the Ratha Yatra, thereby reaching the maximum number of devotees and people worldwide.
This year, the SJTA Chief Administrator suddenly published an advertisement in newspapers calling for auction of right for ‘live telecast’ of the Ratha Yatra festival including Snana Yatra, Rath Yatra, Bahuda Yatra, Suna Besha, Adhar Pana and Niladribije Utsav.
This move has created a commercial interest and seriously restricted the free flow of information and viewership.
The PIL terms the decision “illegal, arbitrary and colourable exercise of power” and alleges that restricting the propagation of festivities of Lord Jagannath is violative of Article-25 of the Constitution of India and also in violation of the temple rules and regulations.
The petitioner has urged the court to interfere and issue a notice to opposite parties asking them why the notification for auctioning the telecast rights of world-famous Rath Yatra be declared illegal and cancelled.